"Can you imagine, getting a nice gift card, $50 from Macy's, and you go to use it and it's been used up already by some scammer?" Schumer asked.
(AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

(Newser)
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People buying gift cards for friends and family this Christmas should make sure that the concealing measures haven't been removed, Chuck Schumer warns. The senator from New York says fraudsters have been visiting stores where the cards are on the shelves and recording access codes in order to drain the card's balance as soon as it is activated, the New York Daily News reports.

"The system all too many stores use now is a free buffet for scammers and crooks that can leave unsuspecting victims with a valueless piece of plastic by Christmas Day," Schumer says. The senator has written to the National Retail Federation and the Retail Gift Card Association urging them to tackle fraud by ensuring stores sell the cards from behind the counter and shoppers are warned of the threat. Schumer says he'd also like to see retailers refund the value of cards that have been drained by scammers.

Is there not a way to actually change the card itself so that this fraud is either impossible to perform or very difficult? Can't they conceal the codes under one of those gray scratch off things and then if the gray area has already been scratched off before purchase, they don't sell it?

Ballantyne

Dec 19, 2011 11:03 AM CST

this article states that stores should be responsible for the fraud by returning the value. does the author mean the store selling the card or the one that the card is issued for? either way it is ridiculous if you buy a card thats all mangled from someone getting the info off it then your to blame. they hide the relevant info under a scratch number and that is usually under the rubber cement used to attach it to the backing. buyer be smart not buyer beware

river291

Dec 19, 2011 10:48 AM CST

I was surprised the first--and last--time I bought a couple of gift cards from a rack in the supermarket. There was no sign about the price, only the pre-printed prices on the cards. I was charged $5 per card above the face value! I would have thought the supermarket would have bought these at a discount, sold at face value.